Architecture for signal distribution in wireless data network

ABSTRACT

A simple and low cost architecture for a distribution network is provided for coupling wireless local area network (“wireless LAN”) signals between geographically distributed access points and centrally located internetworking devices. The distribution network eliminates complexities involved with the deployment of such systems in the past, which have typically required the computer network-compatible wiring to be extended to each access point directly from an internetworking device such as a repeater, bridge, router, or gateway. The distribution network makes it economically efficient to deploy wireless local area networking equipment in locations where wired network infrastructure is not readily available. In particular, any convenient existing physical wiring, such as may be provided by the existing optical transport cabling of a fiber optic network, is used as a physical layer transport medium to carry the wireless local area network signals between the access points and centrally located network hub equipment.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No.10/606,655, filed Jun. 26, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,359,392 which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/332,518, filed Jun.14, 1999 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,587,479), which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/130,445, filed Apr. 21, 1999. The entireteachings of the above applications are incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to wireless local area networksystems and more particularly to a distribution network for couplingwireless local area network signals between centrally locatedinternetworking devices and remotely located access points.

The most common user applications for personal computers now require aconnection to a computer network of some type. Such applications includethe viewing of e-mail, sharing of data files, and accessing the Internetand the World Wide Web. Various techniques are used for connectingcomputers together so that they may send data to and receive data fromeach other, more or less in real time. Most often this so-calledphysical layer is implemented using wires and the bits of data to beexchanged are converted into electrical signals that move through thewires. Traditionally, local area networks (LANs) were implemented usingprivately installed wiring, such as coaxial cable or twisted pair typecable and network adapter circuits. Later, it became possible toconstruct LANs through the use of the public switched telephone networkand modem equipment.

However, networks that use infrared light or radio frequency energy atthe physical layer are growing in popularity. These so-called wirelesslocal area networks (“wireless LANs”) convert the bits of data intoradio waves to enable their transmission over the air, which in turnminimizes the need for hard wired connections.

Wireless LANs have tended to find application where user mobility andportability is important, such as in the healthcare, retail,manufacturing, and warehousing industries. This limited use has no doubtbeen the result of the added cost of the required wireless networkadapters. However, they are also becoming more widely recognized as ageneral purpose alternative for a broad range of business applicationsas the cost of mobile computing equipment such as laptop computers andpersonal digital assistants (PDAs) continues to decrease. With awireless LAN, users can access shared information without first stoppingto find a place to plug-in their equipment. In addition, networkmanagers can set up or augment such networks without installing ormoving wires around from place to place.

The simplest wireless LAN configuration is an independent type networkthat connects a set of computers with wireless adapters. Anytime any twoor more of the wireless adapters are within radio range of one another,they can set up a network. More common is a type of multi-user LANwherein multiple devices referred to as access points collect signals ata central location. The access points collect signals transmitted frompersonal computers equipped with wireless network adapters, anddistribute them over wire physical media to other internetworkingdevices such as repeaters (hubs), bridges, routers, and gateways, toprovide interconnectivity to larger networks.

The range of a wireless LAN is limited by how far the signals can travelover the air between the access points and the network adaptersconnected to the PCs. Currently, the Institute of Electrical andElectronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 wireless LAN standard, which is themost widely used, specifies power output levels which carry signals overa few hundred feet.

To extend coverage beyond this limited range, a network of access pointswith overlapping radio ranges must be located throughout the desiredcoverage area. These so-called infrastructure wireless LANs areimplemented in a manner which is similar to a cellular telephone system.At any given time, a mobile personal computer equipped with a wirelessLAN adapter communicates with a single access point within the currentmicrocell within which it is located. On the landline side, the accesspoints are interconnected using network-compatible twisted pair wiringsuch as that which is compliant with the Ethernet/802.3 10baseT or100baseT standard. The network signals can then be further forwarded toa local- or wide-area network using standard internetworking protocolsand devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a simple and low cost architecture forcoupling wireless local area network (“wireless LAN”) signals betweengeographically distributed access points and centrally locatedinternetworking devices. The invention eliminates complexities involvedwith the deployment of such systems in the past, which have typicallyrequired the computer network-compatible wiring to be extended to eachaccess point directly from an internetworking device such as a repeater,bridge, router, or gateway.

The present invention makes it economically efficient to deploy wirelesslocal area networking equipment in locations where wired networkinfrastructure is not readily available. In particular, any convenientexisting physical wiring, such as may be provided by the existingoptical transport cabling of a fiber optic network, is used as aphysical layer transport medium to carry the wireless local area networksignals between the access points and centrally located network hubequipment.

According to one embodiment, a distribution network is provided forcoupling wireless local area network signals between an internetworkingdevice and a number of remotely located access points in order toprovide wireless local area network service within a geographic coveragearea composed of microcells. The distribution network makes use ofavailable optical transport cabling of a fiber optic network, andincludes a number of cable access points. Each cable access point, whichis deployed within a respective one of the microcells, further includesi) a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point and ii) an accesspoint remote optical converter.

The WLAN access point receives wireless local area network (WLAN)signals from computing equipment located within the respective microcelland converts such signals to local area network compatible signals. Theaccess point remote optical converter receives the local area networkcompatible signals from the wireless local area network access point andconverts such signals to optical frequency signals for transmission overthe available optical transport cabling.

In particular embodiments, the access point remote optical converterfurther includes an access point remote bridge and an optical frequencytranslator. The remote bridge receives the local area network compatiblesignals from the WLAN access point and converts such signals totransport modulated format signals. The optical frequency translator,which is disposed between the access point remote bridge and the opticaltransport cabling, converts the transport modulated format signals thatare produced by the remote bridge into the optical frequency signals.

The distribution network can further include a head end access pointhaving a head end remote converter that is connected to receive theoptical signals from the optical transport cabling and to convert theoptical signals to network compatible signals (e.g., local area network(LAN) compatible signals or wide area network (WAN) compatible signals).

In particular embodiments, the head end remote converter furtherincludes a head end remote bridge and a head end optical frequencytranslator disposed between the optical transport cabling and the headend remote bridge. The head end optical frequency translator convertsthe optical frequency signals from the optical transport cabling totransport modulated format signals. The head end remote bridge, in turn,receives the transport modulated format signals produced by the head endoptical frequency translator and converts the transport modulated formatsignals to the network compatible signals. Preferably, the distributionnetwork also includes a hub for receiving the network compatible signalsfrom the head end remote converter and for forwarding such signals tothe internetworking device.

According to another embodiment, a distribution network is provided forcoupling wireless local area network signals between an internetworkingdevice and a number of remotely located access points in order toprovide wireless local area network service within a geographic coveragearea composed of microcells. The distribution network making use ofavailable optical transport cabling of a fiber optic network, includinga number of access points, each deployed within a respective one of themicrocells. Each of the access points further includes an access pointremote optical converter and a head end access point. The access pointremote optical converter converts the wireless local area networksignals used within the respective microcells directly to opticalsignals for transmission over the optical transport cabling. The headend access point, includes i) a head end frequency translation stage forconverting the optical signals from the optical transport cabling towireless local area network transmission band signals and ii) a wirelesslocal area network bridge for receiving the wireless local area networktransmission band signals and converting them to network compatiblesignals.

As a result, it is not necessary to deploy Ethernet-compatible or otherdata network cabling directly to the physical location of each accesspoint within the desired coverage area. Rather, the access points may bedeployed in configurations wherever there is available cable televisionwiring or telephone network wiring, without consideration for the costand/or logistics of deploying local area network compatible cabling.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of theinvention will be apparent from the following more particulardescription of preferred embodiments of the invention, as illustrated inthe accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer tothe same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are notnecessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustratingthe principles of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a system for providing wireless local areanetwork access using transport cabling according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a more detailed block diagram of a cable access point and headend access point making use of a cable television transport media.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a cable access point and head end accesspoint making use of a cable transport with IEEE 802.14 cable modemcompatible interconnects.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a cable access point and head end accesspoint using a twisted pair transport media.

FIG. 5 is a more detailed block diagram of the typical equipmentdeployed at the head end.

FIG. 6 is a more detailed diagram of the head end access point makinguse of a wireless local area network bridge and translation stage.

FIG. 7 is a more detailed block diagram of an alternative implementationof the cable access point.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Turning attention now to the drawings, FIG. 1 is a generalized diagramof a wireless data network 10 configured according to the invention. Thewireless data network 10 makes use of multiple remotely located wirelesslocal area network (LAN) access point locations to provide wireless LANinterconnectivity over a broad coverage area. The wireless data network10 uses widely available, already installed cabling such as a coaxialcable, optical fiber, or twisted pair as a transport medium. Thisarchitecture provides an inexpensive way to deploy wireless LAN coveragefrom a centralized internetworking device without the need to distributeLAN compatible cabling to each access point location in a geographicregion 11.

More specifically, the wireless data network 10 consists of a number ofmicrocells 12-1, 12-2, . . . , 12-4 distributed throughout a geographicregion. Some of the microcells 12 may be located adjacent to othermicrocells and located in areas of particularly high population density,such as in an office park. Other microcells 12 may be located inresidential and/or rural areas, such as microcell 12-4, and may have noadjacent microcells 12.

The present invention allows the implementation of wireless data network10 in areas where data network wired backbone infrastructure is notreadily available. For example, in the residential or rural area 12-4,such data network infrastructure is not available. Likewise, theinvention can be advantageously deployed even in areas such as theoffice park in microcell 12-3 where such backbone connections mayalready be available. In this case, the invention provides a way todistribute access points throughout a wide geographic region 11 withoutthe need to provide network connectivity to each access point, such asthrough leased data lines or other transport media requiring expensivemonthly rental payments.

Each microcell 12 has associated with it a corresponding cable accesspoint (CAP) 14-1, 14-2, . . . , 14-4. The cable access points 14 areconnected to one another either serially or in parallel via an intercelltransport medium 15. It will be understood shortly the transport medium15 is advantageously selected to be an existing wiring located in theregion 11. For example, the transport medium 15 is selected to be acable television (CATV) cable plant, or twisted pair cabling used toprovide plain old telephone service (POTS).

Heretofore, it has been required to provide a high speed, wiredconnection such as an Ethernet/802.3 10baseT or 100baseT compatibleconnection to each of the microcells 12-1 in order to carry wirelesslocal area network signals from the access points 14 back to aninternetworking device such as a LAN repeater or hub 18. However, theinvention uses especially adapted cable access points 14 and head endaccess points (HAPs) 16 in order to transport the wireless local areanetwork signals over the available transport media 15.

The head end access point (HAP) 16 couples the LAN signals between theavailable transport medium 15 and internetworking equipment such as aLAN repeater or hub 18. From the LAN hub 18, the signals may then be fedthrough LAN switches 20 to wired LANs 22, through routers 22 tocorporate networks 26 or public backbone Internet connections 28, or toother internetworking equipment.

FIG. 2 is a more detailed diagram of a CAP 14-1 and HAP 16-1 that makeuse of existing CATV plant transport medium 15-1. The CAP 14-1 includesan access point 34-1, a remote bridge 36-1, a radio frequency (RF)translator 38-1, power extractor 40-1 and power supply 42-1. Althoughonly a single CAP 14-1 is shown connected to the CATV plant 15-1, itshould be understood that other CAPs 14 are similarly connected to theHAP 16-1.

The CAP 14-1 receives wireless LAN signals from computing equipment 17-1and 17-2 located within its respective microcell 12-1. For example,mobile computing equipment 17-1 such as a laptop computer or personaldigital assistant (PDA) may be fitted with a wireless LAN adapter 30-1which transmits and receives wireless LAN signals 32-1 to and from awireless LAN access point 34-1. It should be understood that in additionto the portable type computing equipment 17-1, there may also be desktopcomputers 17-2 located within the microcell 12, equipped with wirelessLAN adapters 30-2.

The following discussion considers the path of a reverse link directionsignal that is traveling from the computer 17 towards the LAN hub 18.However, it should be understood that communication paths in a networkare full duplex and therefore must travel in both directions; theanalogous inverse operations are therefore carried out in the forwardlink direction.

The radio signals transmitted by the wireless LAN adapter 30-1 and thewireless access point 34-1 are preferably in accordance with the knownstandardized signaling format such as the Institute of Electrical andElectronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 wireless LAN standard. The accesspoint 34-1 and wireless LAN adapter 30-1 are therefore available asinexpensive, off-the-shelf items.

The network side port of the access point 34-1 is, in the preferredembodiment, most commonly provided as a standardized Ethernet typesignal compatible with 10baseT or 100baseT standard signaling. Theremote bridge 36-1 thus converts the Ethernet signals provided by theaccess point 34-1 to a format suitable for connecting such signals overlong distances, depending upon the available transport medium 15.

In the case of the illustrated CATV plant 15-1, the bridge 36-1modulates such signals to a standard line signaling formats such as T1carrier format. However, rather than bring the T1 compatibletelecommunication line signaling directly to the location of the CAP14-1 in the microcell 12, the T1 formatted signal is instead provided toa translator 38-1. The translator 38-1 up-converts the T1 signal to anappropriate intermediate frequency (IF) carrier for coupling over theCATV plant 15-1. For example, the 1.5 MHz bandwidth T1 signal may, inthe reverse link direction, be upbanded to a carrier in the range offrom 5-40 MHz. In the forward link direction, that is, signals beingcarried from the central LAN hub 18 towards the computers 17, thetranslator 38-1 receives signals on the intermediate frequency carrierin a range from 50-750 MHz and translates them down to a baseband T1signaling format.

The power inserter 45 may be located at any point in the CATV plant15-1, and inserts a suitable low frequency alternating current (AC)power signal. This signal energizes the power extractor 40-1 and powersupply 42-1 to generate a direct current supply signal for the CAPs 14.A signal coupler 43 couples this AC power signal and the intermediatefrequency signal energy from the translator 38-1 to the CATV plant 15-1,and vice versa.

The head end access point (HAP) 16-1 contains a power supply 48-1,translator 44-1, and remote bridge 46-1. The translator 44-1 providesthe inverse function of the translator 38-1. That is, in the reverselink direction, it converts the T1 formatted signals from theintermediate frequency carrier in a range of from 5-40 MHz back down tothe baseband T1 format.

In the forward link direction, the translator 44-1 accepts signalsconverted from the LAN hub 18 through the bridge 46-1, upbanding themonto a convenient carrier such as in the range of from 50-750 MHz forcoupling over the CATV plant 15-1.

For more information concerning the details of a suitable translator38-1 and 44-1, reference can be had to a co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 08/998,874 filed Dec. 24, 1997 entitled “RemotelyControlled Gain Control of Transceiver Used to Interconnect WirelessTelephones to a Broadband Network.”

The remote bridge 46-1 then reconverts the translated reverse linksignals back to Ethernet compatible signals, such as 10baseT or 100baseTsignals which may then be processed by the LAN hub 18 or othercompatible internetworking devices.

It should be understood that the CATV plant 15-1 may be replaced byother types of broadband distribution networks which may be convenientlyavailable within the area 11. The one consideration which cannot bealtered is that the end-to-end propagation delays of the remoting mediummust be considered to comply with the end-to-end delay criteriaspecified by the Ethernet/802.3 standard. For example, optical transportmedia may also be used in the place of the coaxial cable used for theCATV plant 15-1, such as described in a co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/256,244 filed Feb. 23, 1999 entitled “OpticalSimulcast Network with Centralized Call Processing.”

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the CAP 14 and HAP 16using cable modem equipment. In this embodiment, a cable modem 37-1replaces the bridge 36-1 and translator 38-1. The cable modem 37-1 maybe IEEE 802.14, Multimedia Cable Network System (MCNS), or Data OverCable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) compatible. The netresult is the same in that the Ethernet signals used for communicationwith the access point 34-1 are converted to cable signals in the 5-750MHz bandwidth.

FIG. 4 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the CAP 14-2 and HAP16-2 which use twisted pair type transport medium 15-2. As before, awireless LAN compatible access point 34-2 provides Ethernet/802.3compatible signals to a remote bridge 36-2. In this instance, the remotebridge 36-2 provides a high speed digital output signal compatible withdigital subscriber line (xDSL) signaling technology. Such xDSLtechnology uses sophisticated modulation schemes to pack data ontostandard copper twisted pair wires.

Likewise, the bridge 46-2 disposed within the HAP 16-2 is compatible forconverting xDSL signaling to Ethernet/802.3 signaling. The embodiment ofFIG. 4 may typically be more advisable to use in areas 11 having readilyavailable twisted pair copper wires such as used for carrying standardtelephone signaling, and wherein such signaling requires only a shortrun to a local central telephone office of 20,000 feet shorter distancecompatible with xDSL specifications.

The understanding therefore is that the bridge 36-1 or 36-2 and 46-1 or46-2 may be any suitable type of layer two (L2) bridging to theappropriate available transport media 15-1 or 15-2, be it up-convertedT1 over cable or fiber, or xDSL.

A complete implementation for a local area network 10 may thus be asshown in FIG. 5. In particular, the subscriber site 52 contains theremotely located computers 17. They exchange wireless local area networksignaling with devices located with the CAPs 14 located at the strandedplant microcell sites 54. In turn, the CAPs 14 use an analogdistribution network implemented using whatever transport medium 15 thatis readily available. The HAP 16 may itself use other analogdistribution networks converts such analog signals back to appropriateEthernet/802.3 signal formatting and forwards them to the hub 18. Thehub 18 thus provides local area network signals such as compatible withthe 10baseT standard, to network router 58 which may provide suchsignals to other networks over whatever long distance digital signalingis appropriate, such as to other local sub-networks over Ethernet/802.310baseT type signaling, or to other remote locations such as over framerelay trunks.

FIG. 6 is a detailed view of an alternate embodiment of the HAP 16.Here, the 802.11 air interface signal is translated in frequency to CATVtransport frequencies between the HAP 16 and CAP 14. The HAP 16 consistsgenerally of a translating stage 60 and bridging stage 62. A translatingstage 60 provides an radio frequency translation function, acceptingsignals from the transport medium 15 and converting their radio band ofoperation. In this particular embodiment of the HAP 16, the bridgingstage 62 is provided by an 802.11 compatible wireless bridge. Thisdevice accepts signals from a wireless local area network at basebandand converts them to the 802.11 protocol for frequency conversion by thetranslating stage 60. In this instance then, the translating stage 60disposed between the bridging stage and the transport medium 15 convertsthe IF signaling used on the CATV transport medium 15 in the range of5-750 MHz to the signaling in the ISM band compatible with the 802.11wireless bridging stage 62.

Finally, FIG. 7 shows an alternate embodiment of the CAP 14 that uses adirect RF translator 38-3 to interface between the CATV transport medium15 and the 802.11 format signals in the unlicensed ISM bands (e.g., 2.4GHz or 5.8 GHz). In particular, the analog distribution network signalsin the 5-750 MHz band are translated in frequency up to an ISM bandcarrier by the RF translator 38-3.

While this invention has been particularly shown and described withreferences to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood bythose skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may bemade therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as defined by the appended claims.

1. A distribution network for coupling wireless local area networksignals between an internetworking device and a plurality of remotelylocated access points, to provide wireless local area network servicewithin a geographic coverage area composed of microcells, thedistribution network making use of available optical transport cablingof a fiber optic network, comprising: (a) a plurality of cable accesspoints, each deployed within a respective one of the microcells, thecable access points each further comprising: i) a wireless local areanetwork access point, for receiving wireless local area network (WLAN)format signals from computing equipment located within the respectivemicrocell, and converting the WLAN format signals to wired local areanetwork format compatible signals; ii) an access point remote opticalconverter, for receiving the wired local area network format compatiblesignals from the wireless local area network access point and convertingthe wired local area network format signals to optical frequency signalsfor transmission over the available optical transport cabling; (b) ahead end access point, comprising: i) a head end remote converter,connected to receive the optical signals from the optical transportcabling and to convert the optical signals to network compatiblesignals.
 2. The distribution network of claim 1 wherein the access pointremote optical converter further comprises: an access point remotebridge for receiving the wired local area network format compatiblesignals from the wireless local area network access point and convertingthe wired local area network format compatible signals to transportmodulated format signals; an optical frequency translator, disposedbetween the access point remote bridge and the optical transportcabling, for converting the transport modulated format signals producedby the access point remote bridge into the optical frequency signals. 3.The distribution network of claim 1 wherein the head end remoteconverter further comprises: a head end remote bridge; a head endoptical frequency translator disposed between the optical transportcabling and the head end remote bridge, the head end optical frequencytranslator converting the optical frequency signals from the opticaltransport cabling to transport modulated format signals; and the headend remote bridge receiving the transport modulated format signalsproduced by the head end optical frequency translator and converting thetransport modulated format signals to the network compatible signals. 4.A distribution network as in claim 1 further comprising a hub forreceiving the network compatible signals from the head end remoteconverter and for forwarding the network compatible signals to theinternetworking device.
 5. The distribution network of claim 1 whereinthe network compatible signals are local area network (LAN) compatiblesignals or wide area network (WAN) compatible signals.
 6. A distributionnetwork for coupling wireless local area network signals between aninternetworking device and a plurality of remotely located accesspoints, to provide wireless local area network service within ageographic coverage area composed of microcells, the distributionnetwork making use of available optical transport cabling of a fiberoptic network, comprising: (a) a plurality of access points, eachdeployed within a respective one of the microcells, the access pointseach further comprising: i) a direct optical frequency translator thatprovides an interface between the optical transport cabling and thewireless local area network format signals and converts the wirelesslocal area network format signals used within the respective microcellsdirectly to optical signals for transmission over the optical transportcabling; (b) a head end access point, comprising: i) a head endfrequency translation stage, for converting the optical signals from theoptical transport cabling to wireless local area network transmissionband signals; and ii) a wireless local area network bridge, forreceiving the wireless local area network transmission band signals andconverting them to network compatible signals.